Bile Bear - Cage Mates (2023) Hi-Res

It was only last summer that we reviewed Denis Cassiere’s debut album as Bile Bear, a confident and engaging set far greater than simply an American Primitive tribute. Cage Mates continues this confidence and gives it more substance while maintaining the simplicity of instrumental guitar music. Using a Gretsch resonator for the majority of the songs, Denis’s playing immediately brings to mind C Joynes’ older solo work. Still, his decision to overlay with a variety of recorded sound snippets reminds one more of Daniel Bachman’s latest albums.

Cage Mates’ header, ‘echoes and ghosts from my ribcage’, immediately gives the project a dark and serious edge, a detail which is reinforced by the excerpt of disgraced ex-Calabria president Domenico Tallini’s speech, plus a baby’s crying, which closes the eleven-minute opening song, Calabria, Symphonic Poem. Heavy, perhaps, but the playing contained on the track is lovely, and the decision to use the resonator gives the sound a certain appealing metallic sharpness that is in keeping with the mood of the song.

Elsewhere, there is plenty of lightness and humour, as the tongue-in-cheek track title, I Want to Kill Gwenifer Raymond, suggests. The piece itself is a gentle little waltz, with just a hint of melancholy in its deliberately picked notes, shifting into more thumb-heavy playing, a la Gwen, in the second half (we’re told that Gwenifer loves it). More urgent is Gipsy Caravan, a cinematic travelling tune that maintains a fast picking pattern for a brief minute and a half run time.

Changing the mood again is the lone electric guitar tune Stromboli (She Said you are a bit Like), a piece that is bookended both by the calming sound of a tide plus the sharp, hammered notes of a Telecaster. The song is actually quite relaxed, suggesting it is named after the island rather than the volcano. A neatly picked, bright piece for the most part, streaks of distortion from the midpoint add shade and drama, also bringing ambiguity to the overall mood, a detail emphasised by the final jagged guitar notes and reverb.

Cage Mates really is a fascinating album and a seemingly appropriate vessel for the diverse and experimental nature of its creator Denis Cassiere. By the time the final notes of Hello Lomax (an almost bonkers collage of sound containing field recordings by Alan Lomax of traditional Italian music) play out, you will want to go back in and pick out more details from both the guitar playing and excerpts on the album.

More experimental in character and challenging in places than Bile Bear, Cage Mates is a sure sign of creative progression from a musician who remains intriguing and quite singular.

Watch the AI-generated video for Stromboli – it’s the first experiment of Sardas Man Studios with Disco Diffusion.